Never Skip Leg Day

About a week had passed since their deadly little excursion into Ca-Elum, which had quickly turned into a fight for their lives. Mercury had very nearly died on the boat ride out after a long and insane fight with a sea serpent out in the open waters that had taken a whole lot of power and a whole lot of luck on both her and Vandrad’s side to kill. She had wound up drowning in the ocean waters after being smacked off her flight disc, and only lived to tell the tale because Vandrad had done the unthinkable and pulled her out of the water, dislodging the liquid from her lungs and saving her life.

It had been an odd moment for Mercury. Well, for both of them really, but especially for her. Her gruff partner wasn’t exactly actively trying to kill her these days. If anything, he had made it pretty clear in his actions and his words that he wanted her around more often, if only to train. Vandrad saw value in her as an equal combat partner, someone that could push him past his limits and encourage him to grow in strength and power. However, that didn’t exactly mean that he was any less surly with her on any given day, nor that he considered her a friend or really anything more than an ally.

So it had been really weird, as she’d slowly come back down from the high of almost dying, to see him treating her with something oddly reminiscent of concern. They both had needed rest and other accommodations, which he made sure she got first: a warm bath to fight off the chill from being drenched in violent winds, dry clothes, a fresh meal, and then off to a much needed sleep. And frankly, she’d been so weary with exhaustion, hardly able to move much on her own, that Mercury hadn’t really stopped to think much about it at the time.

She’d thought about it a lot ever since, however. There certainly wasn’t any gestures of romance in any of the behavior, not that Mercury really understood what such things were anyway, but there had still been a caring and attention there that she’d never really been given before. It gave her much to consider. Frankly, up until now she had constantly referred to herself as his best friend just because she knew it would get a rise out of him and she quite enjoyed watching his nose wrinkle in irritation and disgust. However, a part of her was wondering if this was perhaps what it was like to actually have a friend -- a real one.

Such conjectures were kept to herself, of course. Stars forbid that she ever make any such authentic insinuations to him. At best, he’d bruff it off with a scoff. At worst, he would vehemently deny it until his dying breath, but that wouldn’t change the fact that even after everything was said and done, and they were both rested and ready to continue on to the actual job they’d signed up for in Ca-Elum, he still had been more gentle and mindful of her for the rest of the trip. Perhaps he’d just felt bad. After all, the whole trip had been his idea and yet she was the one who had very nearly perished. She supposed it was entirely possible that the small, temporary change in demeanor had been more out of a sense of guilt and responsibility than a fully genuine concern for her wellbeing.

Only time would tell.

What was interesting was the fact that he hadn’t made any mention of her magic. Mercury had never gone full stop in front of him before with all the power that she had available to her, content to let him wonder and guess about it. She was a woman that liked to keep her cards close to her chest, after all. It was a survival tactic with her to not show her full hand to any one person so she could keep them on their toes and allow herself to be unassuming. It made it all that much easier to knock them off their guard if the need ever arose.

Surely he had been brimming with questions, yet none were put forth. She was both impressed and slightly vexed as she attempted to figure out why he hadn’t brought the subject up. It wasn’t like she had normal magic. From the research she had done on slayers, her magic was rare even by slayer standards. At the very least she expected him to make some kind of offhand snide remark about how much she’d been holding back from him during their spars, or even since Desierto. Not that she’d ever performed such grand feats of magic before even during her private trainings with Jadus, so it wasn’t like she knew she was capable of such things before her life was well and truly on the line, but still. She’d expected something.

But nothing. No smart ass quips, no questions, not even a shred of curiosity. Did he truly just not care that much? Or maybe he was simply taking a crack at her own games, silently passing the opportunity to comment upon such findings in the hopes of driving her mad with waiting for the shoe to drop. It would only be fair, she supposed. After all, she had been doing just that with the little nugget of knowledge that he was royalty from another country, hiding in plain sight in a land that wasn’t necessarily enemies of his own but certainly wasn’t on the best of terms, as far as she had researched.

Oh well. It was bound to come up sooner or later, and she was patient enough to wait and analyze his every move until then to see if he planned on trying to pull a fast one on her. In a week, he had yet to do so. They had returned from their trip and gone right back to the routine they had built up of sparring with one another roughly every other day. The so called prince was a stickler for his workout sessions, expecting the night owl to be at Fairy Tail sharp in the morning to get started. It was fun, but it was also torture for someone like her that was definitely not an early bird. She nearly always showed up half a sleep with a cup of coffee clutched in her hands, often taking a bit to wake up before she was really able to get into the swing of the exercises.

So it was strange, then, that she’d been waiting in Fairy Tail’s mess hall for nearly an hour with no sign of the man. Vandrad was almost never late, and if he ever was it was only by a few minutes at most, usually grumbling his annoyance at whatever person or thing had gotten in his way and kept him from his schedule. Mercury had finished her coffee and was fully awake by the time she realized something was definitely wrong.

She had gotten up to talk to one of the members at their desk, who knew her face well by this point, only to confirm that Vandrad wasn’t even at the guildhall. He had left the day before stating that he needed to go “see to an errand” at home, with intentions of being back by the next day. Only, it was the next day and he wasn’t there yet. If he’d expected to miss or have to postpone their session, surely he would have notified her. Or at least, he had better. Hell would await him if she’d gotten up this early in the morning for absolutely no reason just because he’d forgotten to contact her and let her know something had come up.

The thought of home churned in her mind for a moment. Bellum… she’d yet to go there. It was most of a day’s flight, but ever since her last hover disc had been destroyed Mercury had managed to craft a new one whose speed and aerodynamics far surpassed that of the one she had lost. Perhaps it was time to take it for a true test drive. If he had gone home without any notice or warning, it was possible that something serious had happened that required his attention as a prince. If it was that important, than perhaps her assistance would be of worth, which she knew he’d never lower himself to ask for.

Luckily for him, Mercury had no qualms about showing up places unannounced, and what a delightful show it would be to confirm that she did, in fact, know his real identity by appearing at his house out of the blue?

She’d taken the quick flight back to Silver Wolf to grab a few essentials for her trip: a couple days worth of clothing and toiletries, her travel tool kit, and a few other things. After that, the mage hopped back on her disc and made the long, uneventful flight to Bellum, pondering as to all the possible natures of what could have happened along the way. She’d already long since looked into him and his family, and knew which city his home was located in, even what the place looked like from the outside.

Of course, seeing pictures of the place was nothing in comparison to setting her eyes upon the real thing. It was close to night time by the time she’d arrived, and she’d paused on her disc somewhere over the water to admire the veritable palace that he called home. “And here I thought I’d been the one holding out on you,” Mercury murmured to herself with a delighted smirk.

Rather than land directly in the palace, she’d made her way into the heart of the city and done some exploring to see if she could pick up any news that might catch her interest. Citizens were always chatty and full of gossip whenever anything of interest was going on, so she was not surprised to catch wind almost immediately about what had drawn the man back home. What did surprise her was the nature of the event: a ball. And not just any ball, a full blow gala to celebrate his potential engagement to some Midian princess.

Mercury could hardly contain her glee. He had abandoned her for this nonsense? Oh, he had to be furious. There was no doubt in her mind that something like this was utter agony for the soldier, and it occurred to her that perhaps he had intentionally not made mention of the trip to her for the very reason of knowing that she would find some way to make it worse for him. Well, he certainly would have been right about that, because she was already crafting her plans of revenge and humiliation.

By the time the ball was in full swing, Mercury had managed to slip into the palace and the ballroom without drawing any attention to herself. The people around her were far too busy enjoying their livery and frivolity to notice her slowly moving up along the vaulted ceilings, far above their heads. The aesthetic of the ballroom was unbelievably delicate and extravagant, with crystal pillars and a dark marble floor, with intricate archways and cross beams along the ceiling and a dramatic staircase leading down into the room.

It was from the beams in the ceiling that Mercury curiously watched the goings on below, tucked into a dark nitch in the crystal and idly nibbling on a snack as she observed the hundred or so odd people that had gathered. Each person of noteworthy birth or origins that entered the room was announced by a sussed up man with a cane from the top of the grand stairway, and she found herself rolling eyer eyes at each dolled up woman that did her best to look like she was floating down the step with grace and poise. Luckily, no one was near close enough to hear her snort.

But really, it was the Fairy Tail wizard that she kept her eyes on. He was dressed up to the absolute nines in a finely tailored suit of white, blue, and gold that made him look much more like an actual prince than she ever could have envisioned him as. And boy did he look bored Mercury snickered to herself with delight a number of times as she watched him get passed from dancing partner to dancing partner, each woman practically bursting with some kind of emotion over getting the honor of sharing a moment of his time. Their endless babble was infuriating him. She could tell just by his body language. He looked so much more rigid and uncomfortable here than he ever had during any of their time together in Fiore.

Guess I better spice things up for him a bit then, she told herself with a devilish grin. Moving with quiet grace along the archways, making sure to keep to the more shadowed areas, she found a spot where she could safely drop down to the main floor between a pillar and a wall where no one would notice her. Mercury had been watching the dance closely, analyzing it with her scanners to pick up the pattern of movement and commit it to her memory. This would only be the second time she’d ever danced, but this time she was sure that she would have the knack of it perfectly as this had an actual prescribed rhythm to it that she could mimic rather than just aimless sauntering back and forth. And hopefully this time her feet would be left unabused, as well.

Waiting for the opportune moment, she slipped through the crowds right as Vandrad was getting ready to change partners again. Rudely and unceremoniously hip checking the next starry eyed broad out of the way, Mercury slipped right into his hold with ease and picked up the movement as though she’d known the dance all her life. Unlike everyone else present, however, Mercury was not wearing anything even close to a ballgown. Oh no, his punishment was far worse than her merely showing up uninvited. She was sporting a pair of worn, ripped up denim jeans over a pair of black and white tennis shoes, with a white sleeveless shirt that was just shy of being a crop top.

And in big, black font, the shirt boldly proclaimed the words, “Your son calls me mommy too”.

Mercury smiled at him innocently, though her emerald eyes betrayed the almost sadistic delight she was taking in this moment as the full realization of what was happening surely settled slowly into his head after the initial bout of denial. “It’s funny. Out of all the things I figured you could have stood me up for, getting hitched wasn’t even on the list. It’s terrible manners to keep your best friend out of such an important milestone in your life, your majesty. Only think of how hurt my feelings are.”

It took him a second to realize what had just happened. His mind had been literally everywhere but at the ball, and they had danced for a couple seconds before reality hit him. “Mm, there it is,” Mercury said as horror and rage shadowed his face. “That irritated little wrinkle in your nose that I like so much.”

Mercury was honestly surprised that he kept dancing with her, despite the fact that the whole room around them had practically halted to stare and whisper among themselves. He must have been completely flustered by shock, to the point where he actually gave her an honest answer about why he had missed training. Oh, and she was reveling in the attention, that much was certain. All the other women were stunned and enraged by this common trollop walking in and cutting the obvious line, only to successfully get the man’s attention.

Hell, he actually seemed a bit happy to see her. Sure he wasn’t exactly smiling but he definitely snorted in some form of amusement and continued to move about the room with the underdressed wench, engaging in conversation with her much more than any who had danced with him before. As he started talking about his lack of surprise at her showing up uninvited and out of dress code, Mercury’s impish grin only grew. She was quite pleased with herself, and didn’t hide it even a little.

Vandrad was about to regale her with a list of reasons why she needed to sod off -- all of which she’d planned on ignoring -- when he was interrupted by a commanding female voice. Even as he dropped his head and sighed his frustration and resignation, Mercury turned to behold his mother. She’d known what the woman looked like, as pictures of her had been quite easy to find on the lacrinet. Much like the city itself, however, a mere picture did not do the real thing justice. The duchess was by far the most exotic woman Mercury had ever laid her eyes on, and as Vandrad finally let her go the Silver Wolf mage made no effort to mask the once over look she gave the older woman.

“Vandaddy,” she said in that moment of tense silence, lightly smacking him on the shoulder with the back of her hand without taking her emerald gaze from the woman. “You didn’t tell me you had a sister.” It was definitely bold, particularly when she had little reason to believe that anything other than her being physically tossed out of the building -- or worse -- was about to happen. But then again, this entire venture, outfit included, was almost alarmingly brazen. In for a penny, in for a pound.

The entire room was already thick with suspense as everyone, including herself, waited for judgement to come down hard. The beautifully gaunt woman made a show out of eying Mercury from head to toe, taking her in fully before finally addressing her son. And then, she chastised him for not introducing his friend before flat out hitting on her. The woman smirked at her in such a way that it sent some goosebumps down Mercury’s skin, while also drawing up memories of the times that Vandrad himself had given her such a look. And as the duchess stepped forward to make Mercury’s acquaintance, the only thought going through the Silver Wolf’s head was: Oh, daddy, you’re in trouble now.

Themesycia offered Mercury her hand by way of introduction, pushing the pleasantries further by proclaiming how the Xocili’s stunt had made the entire gala far more worthwhile than she’d originally intended. “Please, my lady,” Mercury told her in a deep charming voice, taking the dutchess’ hand. Rather than shake it, however, she turned it over on her palm and bowed low in a well practiced gesture of respect. Without taking her eyes off the other woman’s, she murmured, “The infamous Ashen Dread can feel free to be as bold with me as she wishes.” Then, she gently kissed the back of Themesycia’s hand, lingering her hold for a moment longer before releasing it and straightening back up.

After giving Vandrad a quick look, the duchess turned to the gawking crowd and chastised them for staring, even going so far as to mock them for being jealous of Mercury’s bravery and sense of comfort in the face of so much frivolity. Without missing a beat, she followed the sentiment by calling out one woman in particular for supposedly utilizing magic to enhance the size of her breasts. By that point, Mercury was practically looking at the woman with stars in her eyes, as though the incarnation of love had just fluttered down from the sky to inject a lifetime supply of oxytocin directly into her veins. Vandrad’s mother was perfect, and there was no one in the cosmos that would be able to convince her otherwise.

As the crowds jumped to making it look like they were busy doing anything other than continuing to stare and try to eavesdrop, Mercury gave the duchess a smirk of her own. “Please forgive your son’s reluctance to introduce me. He was not expecting me, and right now he is far too busy envisioning his hands around my neck and wishing he’d left me to drown in the oceans outside of Ca-Elum. He’ll catch up in a minute.

“In the meantime, please allow me to provide my own introduction and explanation of my presence. My name is Mercury Arseneault… though, if I may continue to be bold myself, you are more than welcome to also call me mommy.” She gave the woman a flirtatious wink and continued. “I am not from any place whose name you would recognize, as it is far, far away from this continent. However, I have recently taken up residence in Fiore with one of their many guilds.”

Mercury wasn’t keen on telling anyone on Earthland exactly where she was from, but she got the feeling that not naming her homeland was just going to make her all the more mysterious and interesting to the woman anyway. “Vandrad and I train together every other day or so, and when he didn’t show up for his morning beating I was concerned, you see. It’s not like him to be late, let alone miss one of our workouts without leaving any word. I was afraid that perhaps something distressing had called him home to see to his duties, and thought to check on him and perhaps offer my assistance as his friend. Alas, it seems he simply left me hanging for a line of fawning ladies.”

She raised a hand to her chest over her heart as if she were hurt, making a right show of it that everyone involved in the conversation would be able to see right through. It was entirely clear that, while Mercury certainly may have come out of a sense of concern for her friend’s sudden disappearance, she was definitely here now to have a little fun getting under his skin. While her expression showed innocence and hurt, her eyes were utterly glittering with a well honed sense of mischief.

“I do hope you can forgive me.”

This was dangerous. Everyone present knew this was dangerous, and yet the moment continued to build. Mercury played right off of the duchess’ demeanor and delivered it back, much to the audible shock of everyone present. Giving the Silver Wolf mage an audience was always a bad idea, yet here she was with Vandrad’s mother encouraging the whole thing. Themesycia even reciprocated Mercury’s invitation to introduce pet names into their new but quickly budding relationship, only flipping it with her open desire to have Mercury be the one who referred to her as mommy. It was a comment that earned the duchess a pleased and considerate grin that promised Mercury was more than okay with the switch.

The woman was quick on the update with the mage’s ruse, smoothly transitioning over to scold her son for leaving poor Mercury to fret over his absence. Vandrad used the comment to twist things right back on his mother, reminding her that the only reason he hadn’t said anything at all was because the woman had lied to him about how long his trip was going to be. It was an accusation that Themesycia readily admitted to, proclaiming aloud what the three of them already knew: that Vandrad utterly despised gatherings like this. She went on to apologize to Mercury for the “upset” before offering restitution in the way of providing the Silver Wolf mage with attire more befitting to the occasion, if only to save them all the headache of the other patron’s whispers and discomfort.

Of course, this was all said while quite openly admitting that she already wanted to get Mercury in her own personal chambers to spend some quality bonding time with her. On her part, Mercury was already weighing the consequences of bedding Vandrad’s mother, and whether or not she cared about what those consequences would be. Each word out of the duchess’ mouth emboldened Mercury to new heights of crude forwardness, a feat in and of itself given that she hardly had much of a filter to begin with.

She was about to make herself ready to be whisked off to said personal dressing room without argument when the killjoy stepped in, quite firmly putting his foot down on the entire ploy before it could come to fruition. Mercury pouted playfully at the back of Vandrad’s head as he stepped between the two women as if to make himself a physical barrier to keep them apart. In his defense it was the wisest choice, but that didn’t mean Mercury wouldn’t play up her disappointment for his mother’s benefit.

Mercury remained otherwise silent through the short exchange between the two of them arguing which would be better suited to escort her to a tailor, with Vandrad insisting that it was clearly his responsibility since Mercury was his guest, at an affair that had been put on for him. “Aww. And here you keep trying to insist that you don’t care about me,” the purple haired woman commented with faux gratitude, a comment that was fairly par for the course with him at this point.

Apparently, her son’s words had sparked a note of awareness in his mother, however, who spoke up with a tone of surprise and understanding. She voiced how, despite the fact that she should have been disappointed with him, that she couldn’t help but be pleased over the revelation that he hadn’t quite managed to save himself for marriage. Mercury chuckled for a brief moment, the implication not fully hitting her right away.

But oh when it did, her green eyes flew wide open and flicked aggressively between Vandrad and his mother. Mercury let out a deep and audibly dramatic gasp, even as his face turned absolutely crimson, confirming the delicious truth that he’d hidden from her all this time: She had taken his virginity. Vandrad gave her no time to make a show of the knowledge, snatching her roughly by the arm and quite literally dragging her toward the exit while a very stunned audience watched. Mercury allowed herself to be taken away, but not without turning to watch Themesycia as they went, openly mouthing the words “Thank you so much” and “I love you” with the sincere, almost teary eyed expression of a woman that had been given a priceless treasure.

Up the grand staircase they went, through the halls of the western side of the palace where Vandrad hustled them into a garishly sized dressing room and slammed the door shut behind them. The man practically vomited out the instructions on picking out whatever dress she wanted, explaining that it could be magicked to fit her, all the while doing his best to keep himself from facing her. His hands were up at his face, and Mercury knew that he was desperately trying to break apart his blush, but it was far too late. And quite honestly, there was nothing she was less interested in at that moment than changing clothing.

“I was your first?” she asked him with a mixture of glee and affection, the absolute picture of a woman who had both been truly touched by the knowledge and also intended to make sure that he never, ever was going to live it down. “Although, come to think about it, that does explain a lot. Here I thought all that build up and excessive release of tension was just from how angry you were at me, but the truth is just so much better. Oh, you poor thing. I don’t even blame you for not telling me. Even I know that I should never have been informed about this.”

With a wistful sigh, she decided to stop her teasing there. At least, for the moment. Mercury needed time to figure out all the infuriating little ways she was going to use this new knowledge against him, but in the meantime she could take pity on him now that they were alone. He’d already been having a bad day before she got there, after all. Putting a hand on her hip, she tilted her head at him and gave him a wry smirk. “You have been absolutely miserable all day, haven’t you?” she asked him with slight amusement but also not lacking in sincere sympathy.

It felt like hours before he said anything, sternly and stubbornly staring at the wall with such determined silence that Mercury was certain he was well and truly reconsidering his decision to keep her in his life. It honestly wouldn’t have been the first time. Mercury had given quite a number of people reasons to dislike and even downright loathe her in the past due to her love of amusement at the expense of others.

And yet, when he spoke up it was not to tell her to shut her trap, nor to berate her for the embarrassing show she’d just put on for his honored guests. Instead, Vandrad opened up about how his mother was regularly tricking him into these ostentatious parties in an attempt to pair him off with a woman and finally get him to settle down. It was a tradition that she had been conducting since he was a younger man, and at the time he had already disliked them. But now, after a couple decades of dealing with it they were downright impossible for him to stomach as he had to suffer through countless women vying for his affection like all it would take was the mere sight of them to bring him to his knees with a ring.

Mercury winced. Even to her, that sounded like an absolutely awful existence. She loved a good party, and would absolutely never turn down an opportunity to dress herself up for a night on the town, but being forced to act like she was interested in a complete stranger in some form of social mating ritual? She could certainly understand why Vandrad had been as out of tune as he had been before she showed up.

He explained how his mother had somehow managed to track him down at Fairy Tail, despite his best efforts at keeping his identity hidden. She had demanded his return for the event, even going so far as to ensure that his refusal would be met with a swift and public veto that would reveal his secret. To more than just her, at least. Mercury grinned a little as he finally turned to fix his narrowed eyes on her, his cheeks mostly back to their normal color. The prince commented on her ability to keep the secret to herself despite a number of chances to hold it over his head just so she could make sure she could use the knowledge where it would really count the most for her. He even admitted that it was impressive, despite how much it vexed him.

“Trust me, killer, you have no idea how many times I wanted to say something,” Mercury assured him in her impish fashion. “The only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that you were probably debating to yourself as to whether or not I’d heard you at all, and it was very satisfying having those suspicious little eyes on me every time the subject could potentially come up. Especially in Desierto.” She chuckled fondly at the memory. “I wish you could have seen the look on your face when I sold you as a commoner instead of a noble. Priceless.”

It felt so good to finally get to release some of her humor that had been bottling up the last few weeks. Amusement for her own sake was great, but things were always so much funnier when shared with someone else. He snorted and moved over to one of the windows which showcased the great waterfalls farther out in the water. Mercury listened as he told her that the evening was about to get worse, or at least it would for him. Everything he described sounded utterly delightful to her. “So, a regular Tuesday for you, then?” she commented with a smirk when he eyeballed her about having far too many people in his lift twisting his existence for their entertainment.

He sighed again and surprised her by coming out and stating that he wasn’t going to bother with the effort of trying to convince her to leave, knowing that she wouldn’t. It seemed it was easier for the prince to simply accept the inevitable instead of wasting his energy bashing against her meddle. Even though he knew that her presence was going to inflate everything he already hated about these events, he admitted that having her there would still make the event more bearable, even if he’d have to endure a bit more humiliation for it. He actually told her that he was glad she had shown up, and apologized for leaving her waiting back in Fiore.

This was far too much open and honest sincerity for her comfort, and her coping measure of masking things with cool humor kicked in right on cue. “Yikes. You actually want me to stay, and you’re apologizing to me? You’re even more depressed here than I realized.” She gave him a wry smirk.

Of course, Mercury had no intention of letting him get away without answering her initial question, and it seemed Vandrad was already prepared for that. With an exasperated look, he finally confirmed for her that she had, indeed, taken his virginity, following the statement up immediately by reminding her that, while it had been his first time, he had still managed to land a spot in her top best lays. Oh how she grinned, even as he followed up with her own words affirming that it hadn’t been the most awful thing that could have happened to him.

“You remember it now, don’t you?” she teased him with a smug tone, the ease of his smirk readily betraying that the temporary amnesia from his blind rage had finally worn off and gifted him with the full memory from his own perspective. As if a sorrowful thought had just occurred to her, she sighed lamentably. “Fuck, I can’t believe your first time was that intense. I’m pleased by the knowledge that I gave you the best sex that you’ll probably ever have, but dejected over the reality that I have set the bar so high that I’ve probably ruined sex for you in the future.” Mercury put her hands on either of his shoulders, looking him in the eyes with a playfully despondent expression. “I am so sorry,” she whispered.

He finally told her to hurry up with picking a dress so she could get out of her current statement piece. It was outrageous, Vandrad told her, as the only one that used any nicknames between them was her. Mercury grinned at him as she went over to a window and opened it to the night sky, flicking her tablet into her hand and pressing a couple commands into it. While he went on to command her to stop lusting over his mother, Mercury slowly started browsing through the available dresses. She opened her mouth to make a comment about his choice of words regarding his mother’s tongue but he cut her off before she could begin, hurriedly correcting his language in order to get a horrifying image out of his head.

“Okay, but real talk though, your mother is an absolute smoke show. I will do my best, but I don’t think I can make any promises. She seems pretty determined to sling me around like a hula hoop, and I’m not altogether sure I have the stamina to resist it. My point is: You’re probably going to have to keep an eye on me and make sure I’m not left alone with her for longer than five minutes.” Mercury paused for a split second of thought before innocently correcting herself. “Ten minutes.”

Would she actually sleep with his mother if presented with the opportunity, or was she just starting into her favorite activity of teasing at his discomfort? Frankly, not even Mercury was entirely certain. “Besides, I would think you don’t want to rush me. The quicker I get ready, the quicker you have to be back in that room with all those uptight hussies prostrating themselves at your feet and swooning over your very existence.” The Silver Wolf mage snorted, clearly entertained by the mental image she’d crafted for herself. As far as she was concerned, she was doing him a favor by taking her time.

Pulling out a dress, she looked it over before putting it back, keen on finding something that suited her style and the image she very much wanted to present of herself to the crowd that was surely awaiting their return. “As a point of interest, you should consider the opportunity you’re being presented with, here. Your mother is a woman after my own heart, as you’ve already pointed out, but she only has as much control as you give her. You could spend the rest of the time focusing on keeping her from whisking me away into her bedchambers… or...”

Mercury turned to fix him with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “You can make us both proud and get some satisfaction in taking every conceivable chance to remind her that you got to fuck me raw and she didn’t.” This was his chance to get a little payback at his mother for a lifetime of verbal abuse and teasing on par with what Mercury herself gave the man every time they spoke. Why waste it?

By the time she settled on a dress, her purpose for opening the window was revealed in the form of her hover disc dutifully delivering her travel bag to her. Mercury draped her selected garment on a nearby chair and took the sack in hand, digging through it until she retrieved the pouch that had her makeup within. If she was going to return to this shindig in fashion, it was going to take more than a dress to ensure that she looked the proper part. She moved over to a brightly illuminated mirror behind a vanity station and set the pouch down, dumping out its contents to start applying her war paint.

“I’m loving that outfit on you, by the way,” Mercury told him candidly, shooting him a flirty look through the mirror between applications. “It’s been difficult trying to envision my gruff, hunky sparring partner as a trim and proper aristocrat, but this is definitely helping.”

Finished with applying a coat of toner and some blush to her face, she pulled out a dark brown eyeshadow and began adding some smoke and color around her eyes. “So tell me about your intended beau,” Mercury playfully nudged him, interested in hearing exactly what kind of lady Themesycia had lined up for him tonight in her attempt to play matchmaker. “Was she already there and I missed it? Please tell me it was the one with the tits that your mom yelled at. Oh, or even better: the one that was practically crying after I stole her dance with you. We can establish a safeword if you want, so I know when I need to wade into the fray and come rescue you from the dismal threat of matrimony.”

“Well unless you’ve been sleeping around since Desierto, no one, since I took your virginity.” The tease slipped right out of her tongue before even she had a chance to think about it. Mercury stopped as if the comment had only just hit her before chuckling. “Oh yeah, I’m definitely never going to get tired of saying that.”

Apparently Vandrad had grown up watching Themesycia whisk people away into her bed, an occurrence that happened often enough that he knew the signs and understood what exactly he was up against. Or rather, what Mercury was up against. He claimed that he didn’t need her fantasizing about the woman while they were training. “Clearly you don’t understand how much I fantasize during training. Have you seen you without your shirt on? I can multitask, don’t you worry.” If Mercury thought there were other reason why Vandrad wouldn’t want her thinking too much about his mother, she didn’t voice it.

She did, however, shoot him an interested and teasing look when he rebuked her plan to take her time in changing so he could have a few extra minutes of reprieve. His statement that he’d rather see her naked was certainly worth pausing her venture to give him a knowing grin, even as he started to blush a little again and corrected himself, insisting that he’d meant that she should be in appropriate attire rather than the crass shirt she’d brought along. “Mhm,” was her only response, the gentle hum a clear tone that she was pretending to believe him for his own sake.

According to him, there was little good that would come from him using his jaunt with Mercury in the desert as a way to gain a foothold over his mother. She was too much like Mercury herself, who would simply view the comments as a challenge to rise up and meet. That was fair, and the way the Silver Wolf mage nodded her head in candid agreement expressed her concedence to his logic. However, he did follow up with stating that there were more subtle ways that he could go about it that could get the jab across without necessarily spurring the older woman to action. By the smirk on his face, he was already putting together little plans and ideas. Mercury chuckled, pleased with how much of her mischief was rubbing off on him.

When her pack came through, he chided her for having actually packed a bag in the first place, though his tone and face expressed more amusement than anything else. “Hey, I’m not the one that has resources readily available out here,” she reminded him with a grin, equally as amused as he was. “Besides, have you ever tried traveling light as a woman?” Mercury was more than willing to make a small jab at her own sex, as female creatures were often had to pack for a lot more eventualities than men did.

Vandrad didn’t seem as pleased by his attire as Mercury was, but that was to be expected. He’d worn it a number of times, and it was definitely flashier than one would expect him to be comfortable in. He did, however, have a bit to say about his supposed bride to be. Her name was Sabine, and apparently she was a princess from the country Midi. Apparently she had been pledged to a number of arranged marriages that all fell through, and like Mercury she enjoyed a bit of spot light. So much so, in fact, that she was supposedly famous for being late to functions just so everyone could see her arrive. Mercury didn’t bother trying to cover her snort, rolling her eyes as she put the eye shadow away and took out her mascara. While the Xocili certainly enjoyed attention when she was ready to strike and set her plans into place, she didn’t really go seeking it for the sake of having it. Those who were in the spotlight always had to watch their backs. Better to hide in the shadows until being in the light suited her.

Still, according to him there would be no need for a passcode of any kind as he was probably going to be in a constant state of frustration once the woman got there, or so he joked. She chortled a bit to herself, already imagining his face. “I don’t blame you. I’m already exhausted by her and she’s not even here yet. I’ll do my best to keep my mouth shut. Or maybe I won’t. If she’s already dropped out of a number of other potential match ups then there’s probably something wrong with her.” Mercury had never met a Midian before, though, so that was going to be interesting at least. Maybe she could learn a bit about their culture and add it to her databanks.

By this point Mercury had finished all of her makeup except for her lips, double checking her work to make sure it was flawless. She’d even used the tiniest bit of her magic to create a few thin steel lashes to add to her own, giving them a fuller look than usual. As she stepped away from the vanity and started to strip, Vandrad opened up about another concern of his that he wanted to warn her about. Apparently his uncle, Themesycia’s brother, would also be in attendance tonight and he was just as incorrigible as the duchess was. According to him the two siblings looked nothing alike, but he had no reason to disbelieve their claimed relationship to one another so there it was. Plus, even Vandrad had to admit that the man was a looker that easily caught whatever fish he wanted, meaning that the prince was bound to have his hands full that night trying to entertain a princess and keep two of his family members from sneaking her off.

“Boy, you’re really the black sheep in the family, aren’t you?” she mused with a chuckle, contemplating on how totally opposite Vandrad seemed to be from his relatives so far. Mercury pulled off her shirt, confirming for him a second time that she didn’t wear a bra. She carefully folded the item and set it down on the table before bending down to untie her shoes and work on removing the rest of her outfit. “Also, I know you’re trying to make them sound like people I should be wary of, but all this is doing is making me fall in love with your family more. You do realize this, yes?” It was ironic how quickly Mercury seemed to be able to fit right in with the du Wolffs. Granted, they probably wouldn’t like her so much if they knew the truth of her origins and her status.

But thankfully, that was information that no one, not even Vandrad or her guildmates, were privy to.

Finally removed down to nothing but her underwear, Mercury took her pile of folded clothes and tucked them back into her back, along with her shoes. Picking up the dress, she unzipped the back and started tucking her arms through the underside of the skirt so she could pull the thing over her head. “Hey, gimmie a hand here, would ya?” she asked. Fancier dresses were a bit more of a chore to get on properly, not to mention she would need him to zip it up.

Once the piece was on and he’d gotten it properly secured, the dress indeed altered itself to fit her more snuggly. But of course, as a woman the ensemble couldn’t be completed there. A bit of jewelry was needed, but that was a part where Mercury had no intentions of borrowing. Instead, she took another drawstring pouch from her makeup kid and opened it to reveal a few different pieces of metal inside. One of them was gold. Eying the outfit with a thoughtful hum, she gave a scrutinizing glance at her hair, currently hanging down limp past her ears. It was hardly fitting for the dress, and so she used a bit of the gold to craft an intricate, half moon shaped band out of delicate curves and used it to pull her hair up behind her head, leaving her neck and shoulders exposed.

Once her hair was gently tucked into the band and as regal as she could make it look, she added a couple small drops to her earlobes as well as a bracelet for her wrist that covered the back of her hand and fixed itself to a ring on her middle finger. She then moved back over to the wardrobe and selected a pair of chocolate brown heels to go with the dress that also adjusted themselves to her foot size. These too she upgraded with her magic instructing the gold until it plated the soles of the heels and even added an anklet in a similarly flowering and vine like style as her hair piece.

All that was left was her neck, which was disappointingly empty given the dramatic open front of the dress. Using the last and largest bit of the gold she kept on hand, Mercury fashioned a delicate looking gorget of her own to fix around her neck, gently using her fingers to draw an elegant chain of it from her neck down through her open cleavage where it fastened to the top of the dress just beneath her bust. Giving a final look in the mirror, she turned to him with a little smirk.

“What do you think, your highness? Am I suitably presentable now?” The completed ensemble was just as bold as what she’d just been wearing before, except instead of crude and offensive it was much more on the racy side. The chocolate and cream colored dress only covered as much of her breasts as was minimally acceptable in most societies, practically leaving both mounds bare with only a few firm, brown satin leaflets covering the parts that would technically leave her nude. The soft material of the skirt was slit all the way up to her waist where it connected to the bodice just over her right hip, meaning that if she sat down at all during the night practically her entire leg up to and past her ass would be on full view for the world to see. The elegant cape completed the look with a slight train, the back of which hung down just low enough to display the ironic crimson symbol of a wolf between her shoulder blades that was the mark of her guild allegiance.

Though she hid it relatively well, the outfit was actually a little daunting to her and if he was paying attention it was possible he could catch a slight air of uncertainty through her facade of coy confidence. It wasn’t from the style of the outfit being scandalous, of course. Mercury wasn’t at all afraid about showing a little skin. Rather, she’d never actually worn something so extravagant before, and it was… well, odd. Not unpleasant. She was quite smitten with it, truth be told, but there was a part of her that she was doing her best to ignore which couldn’t help but feel a bit out of place dressed up this finely. Just, not enough to see if the completed look could get a third blush out of him.

“A study packet, eh?” Mercury asked while she finished up her makeup. “I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on one of those. I’m sure it’s full of all sorts of goodies.”

Leave it to her to linger on that bit of information over everything else he’d said. For her part, Mercury didn’t particularly seem to be concerned one way or another if he was watching her while she undressed or not. Perhaps she might have made a joke if he’d looked away, but perhaps not, and neither did she sprout any lewd comments about him choosing to keep his eyes on her. He explained that his family was all about a good scandal, which explained why Mercury had made such an astoundingly good first impression with his mother. Those things didn’t interest the prince, however, and never had. With a bit of amusement at himself, he admitted that he could be charming when he wanted to be, but usually he just preferred to be forthright with people.

She shrugged a bit. “Honesty can be charming,” the mage told him simply, her only playful response to his dissertation on the differences between himself and his relatives. He followed it up with what essentially amounted to, “I gave you the warning to take or leave as you please”, with another of his underhanded compliments that he was prone to, remarking on how he’d expect nothing less than for her to crash a noble affair and immediately get all the aristocrats to like her anyway. “I’ll be sure to keep it in mind. As curious as I am about your family and their vices, I’m not so curious that I would miss out on your big night just to go get my skirt lifted out in the garden. Believe it or not, I do have some standards.”

On the dress went, and he moved back to his corner to go brood in mostly quiet patience while she finished getting ready. Once everything was in place, Mercury got his attention and pried for an opinion, giving Vandrad her trademark smirk, albeit with a hint of uneasiness that she didn’t seem to be aware wasn’t fully hidden from him. There were perks to sticking around with someone long enough to know where all their buttons were, but there were also cons in the sense that they had as much equal opportunity to learn about her as well. Given how brief worded and aloof he usually was, it was easy to forget sometimes that he was better at reading people than she gave him credit for. Or perhaps she hadn’t even really quite pegged him for that yet.

Either way, he was visibly taken back, causing her emerald gaze to twinkle a bit deeper with mischief for a moment. There were a number of responses Mercury could expect from him: A humor coated insult paired with a blush of denial, even a scoff of derision over her mannerisms that often irritated him. Complete and utter silence wasn’t at the the top of that list, but also wasn’t entirely unreasonable and when he moved without saying anything Mercury ran with it as she usually did, crafting her own explanations where he often gave her none. “Ouch,” she said, giving an overplayed but greatly amused wince. “That bad, huh? If you want me to buy you more time I can always go back through the rack and search for something…”

Her voice trailed off as he plucked an unseen item from one of the drawers at the vanity and came to stand in front of her, holding out his free hand toward her unadorned one. “...better?” Mercury finished her statement, ending it on the note of an inquiry. Her eyes had narrowed at him with a mixture of suspicion, curiosity, and amusement. The latter two options got the better of her and she silently acquiesced to his wordless request by giving him temporary possession of the limb.

He slipped a gold ring with an emerald gem on her middle finger, informing her rather softly that it was customary for a woman with a princess’ beauty to adorn something on her person that would draw attention back to her eyes. That comment alone had been more than enough to completely drain the rascality from her face and replace it with something very akin to confusion. Yet as he waited for the jewel to adjust to the more petite size of her rather dainty fingers, he followed it up with an idle comment about the jewel not necessarily adding much to her radiance.

It was so quiet one could have heard a pin drop onto a rug, the two of them standing there a bit awkwardly in silence for a second that lasted longer than any hour. There was a mild look of what could only be compared to panic in her eyes as her completely shut down brain scrambled to figure out how the hell to react to him talking so lavishly to her. Memories flitted back to similarly complimentary comments that had been bequeathed to her by Gangting not terribly long ago during their second, unexpected meeting. She had been equally as stumped then, though the larger man had talked a fair bit longer than Vandrad, giving the Silver Wolf time to recover where the prince had not.

Mercury continued to say nothing at all as he let her go and conjectured on how they had better get back to the gala before people started thinking that Vandrad had ushered her away to beat his mother to the punch. He didn’t sound at all like he wanted to leave the room, though Mercury stubbornly stamped down the rattling in her ears that told her his lack of desire had nothing to do with the actual party itself. And for once, she didn’t call him on it or even tease him about it. “Well, we wouldn’t want that, would we?” she said, her voice quieter and more sober than usual.

The prince stepped back and fell into the well practiced mannerisms of one who had been trained on noble decorum all his life, offering his arm to her like the lady she was currently pretending to be. There was only a split second of hesitation and wariness on her end before she accepted the gesture, taking his limb with her own and letting him lead her back toward the ballroom. As they walked, neither of them said a word, which was just as well for Mercury as it gave her adequate time to get her head back in order, aided in part by the distracting and distinctive sound of a trumpet fair down in the direction they were heading.

By the time they made it to the top of the landing, she’d managed to put her mask back on and felt a little more like herself. The patrons in the room had been quite interested in the Midian princess when she arrived, of course, but those who had been present to witness Mercury’s first entrance had been waiting all the more to see what happened next with her. She could feel some of the tension, of course, and knew that there were eyes on her. The Silver Wolf mage wasn’t exactly shy about her looks. However, she also wasn’t one to assume that she was the center of attention at any given point of time, so she assumed that most of the gazes cast in her direction were due primarily in part to people paying attention to the prince, or rather just gawking at her continued boldness in choice of dress.

Mercury had stopped walking when he had, of course, following his gaze along the room until it fell upon an obviously foreign woman in a kimono with a display of jewelry so gaudy it made her own seem humble in comparison. Princess Sabine was currently paired off with his mother, and the moment her eyes met Vandrad’s there was no mistaking that the woman was… well, not for him. The prince swore under his breath so only Mercury could hear. “Oh look,” she murmured to him, her tone fully engaged back in taunt mode. “Your blushing bride to be.”

It was only made better as the excitable woman practically shouted across the room, referring to him as “princey-poo”. Mercury flat out snorted, a soft but long expression of her deepest amusement. “You know, if you really dislike ‘Vandaddy’ so much, I could always try that one out for a while,” the mage offered him. The woman practically shoved Themesycia out of the way to hurry her way across the room and up the steps toward them. “Oh my stars, she is a trainwreck,” she whispered before Sabine was close enough to hear. “I can’t believe I almost missed this.”

The princess beelined her way practically right into Vandrad’s face like Mercury wasn’t even on the same continent as them, immediately gushing over his attire while also critiquing it for what she thought would have better suited him. The Xocili’s face so badly wanted to give way to betray her complete and utter amusement over the development, her lips trembling and twitching with the effort it took to keep her expression down to a cool, unreadable smirk. Somehow, she managed to wait patiently for the princess to finish blubbering like a prepubescent teenager and actually acknowledge her existence.

And when she did, Mercury was not disappointed. The Silver Wolf mage was met with the most petty of stares, quite condescendingly informing Mercury that it was now her turn with the prince as though the lavender haired mage had been little more than an arm warmer for him until her arrival. For a moment there was a tense silence as both women looked at one another in the kind of screamingly silent judgemental standoff that only women could have with one another, Mercury’s level gaze cool and confident, seemingly undaunted by the noblewoman’s demand. In fact, the way that Mercury gently, almost patiently raised her eyebrow ever so slightly at the woman and didn’t with all haste immediately relinquish her hold of the prince’s arm suggested that she may even be so bold as to deny the woman her command.

But then Mercury smiled for all the world like she was genuinely happy to oblige, and had expected nothing less for an outcome. “Absolutely, my lady,” she told her kindly. Turning to face Vandrad, he would catch the utterly wicked glimmer in her eyes as she neatly curtsied to him. “My sincerest thanks for your time, your highness. I’ll leave you to your intended. I am sure you are quite eager to make her acquaintance. Oh, and before I forget: that word we were looking for was ‘collywobbles’.”

Yes she had just subtly fed him a safe word, yes it was an aptly picked antiquated term for feeling queasy to one’s stomach, and yes she had picked a word that was purposefully so ridiculous that he wouldn’t say it unless absolutely desperate. Without moving away from Vandrad just yet, she turned to Sabine and inclined her head respectfully. “My lady,” she said by way of excusing herself, drawing the woman’s attention away from Mercury ever so subtly pinching Vandrad’s ass before finally walking away.

As she descended the stairs, the Silver Wolf looked quite smug and pleased with herself. Unlike every other woman who had done their best to grace their way down the landing, Mercury instead carried the air of a woman that was fully confident in her audacious attire and not afraid to show it. Given that Themesycia was the only other person in the room that she knew, the mage returned to the duchess’ side and raised her arms up as if to playfully display herself, turning in a small circle for the woman with a smirk before lowering her limbs. “I trust this will be less distressing for your other patrons?” she inquired impishly.

Then, much like Vandrad had done for her, she held out her arm with a slight bow. “I don’t suppose it’s too presumptuous of me to ask if you’d be willing to accompany me to wherever there is an available supply of alcohol? Within the ballroom, of course. I have been given strict restrictions and instructions on how far I am allowed to stray out of your son’s sight. Which is to say: not at all. I’m starting to think he doesn’t trust us with one another.”

Oh, he was so angry with her. Mercury could see the fury in his eyes that promised payback, but by the look in her own gaze she wasn’t very afraid of that unspoken promise. Luckily the princess didn’t seem to be any the wiser to the intent behind Mercury’s subtle mannerisms, which was telling in and of itself. Unless this woman was better at hiding her intellect than Mercury gave her credit for, Sabine was a woman that thought herself better at every other woman around her in the sport of being catty. That was a game that Mercury was far too interested in playing, but it required the proper amount of time and patience to build toward.

Plus, she had not been shy about admitting that she was still going to pick on Vandrad through this whole thing, and even the prince himself had already accepted that fact. He knew what he was getting into at this point, and that just gave her all the more free reign to torture him as deeply as she pleased. She didn’t see the slight widening of his eyes as she’d pinched his behind, but her sensitive ears could not miss the intake of breath that betrayed his reaction to her. With little else to do, she then wandered down the staircase and toward the only other person she knew at the party.

Themesycia never took her smouldering gaze off Mercury even once as the Silver Wolf mage approached and gave her a little show, and neither did Mercury back her own eyes down while the other woman threw timidity to the wind and trailed a finger down the smaller woman’s front, causing a slight eruption of goosebumps in the digit’s wake. The duchess was quite vocal of her approval of the chosen outfit, immediately informing Mercury that it was hers to keep as the older woman wouldn’t feel right wearing it after her. “Oh? And here I was thinking maybe you’d enjoy my lingering scent on it after it was returned to you.”

A quick return in flirtation before she humbled herself a bit. “Thank you, though. That’s very generous of you, as is letting me borrow from your wardrobe in the first place after my rather dramatic entrance. I will have to find an excuse to wear it again, someday.” After that, the duchess lamented the restrictions her son had placed, stating that she had a couple hundred year old bottle of rum up in her room that Mercury might like. The insinuation did not go unnoticed, and the younger woman hummed in consideration of the offer.

Still, it seemed Themesycia understood her son’s requirements, not staying her tongue as she admitted that she’d already been trying to picture Mercury naked since the moment she laid eyes on her. A feat that was all the better aided by the gown she’d chosen. It was then that Mercury’s grin went from flirtatious to cheshire, as the woman classily complained about not getting to her before Vandrad did. “Oh, and that is a story you’re going to want to hear, trust me.”

Off they moved over toward the bar, arm in arm with Themesycia’s nails gently running along the inside of Mercury’s wrist, a pleasant sensation that she had no intentions of discouraging. Neither did she show any surprise or disappointment when the duchess moved her arm around Mercury’s hip, making sure to grab a firm hold of the smaller woman’s bottom before completing the path. It was going to be a long, challenging night for Mercury, that much was certain. She was capable of getting into far too much trouble with highly sexual individuals, already rethinking the consequences of letting Vandrad’s mother carry her off anyway. Alas, it was probably better to behave in that regard…

...she told herself, without being aware of her thumb gently rubbing the underside of the ring he’d put on her finger earlier.

The barkeep was instructed to let Mercury have whatever she wanted, no matter how expensive, before the duchess insisted on learning more about her son’s friend. “Surprise me with a rum of some kind, please,” she asked the man before giving Themesycia a smirk. “You mentioned it and now I can’t get the idea out of my head.”

As Mercury leaned against the counter and waited, she gave some thought to the duchess’ request to learn more about her. “Well, I already mentioned that I have taken up residence in Fiore. Specifically, I’m a mage with the Silver Wolf guild. We focus a lot on hunting for treasures and artifacts, while preserving the histories and cultures that they belong to. I’m one of their three aces, placed in charge of their branch of Scholars.”

“Thank you,” she told the barman as he slid her drink to her, taking it in hand and giving it a sip with a delighted hum. Then, Mercury continued. “I actually met Vandrad on a job involving a treasure hunt, of sorts. Our guilds are allies, so we got randomly paired to go hunt some ghosts deep in the Silent Glaciers that were bothering the locals. The things were guarding all the treasure they’d hoarded and never spent.” She rolled her eyes to express her thoughts on the silliness of gathering so much of value just to never make use of any of it.

“Anyway, much to his chagrin I tracked him down later and convinced him into another job with me. I’m pretty sure he was hoping to never have to see me again or hear my name. Apparently, I remind him too much of his mother.” Mercury gave the woman a wink, taking another couple sips from her glass. “Honestly, there isn’t a terrible amount to know about me. I spend most of my time working, either on jobs or tinkering around in a lab. And, as of recently, forcing myself to get up at cursed awful hours of the morning to work on my fighting skills since Vandrad seems to have decided that I’m the only worthwhile sparring partner in any of the surrounding countries. Don’t dare let him catch you referring to me as his friend, however; he prefers the term ‘rival’, no matter how much I myself argue to the contrary with him.”

Mercury grinned a bit there, obviously quite pleased with admitting that picking on Themesycia’s son was one of her favorite pastimes. It would likely be more than easy for the duchess to note the ease of which the Silver Wolf mage smoothly deflected the broad inquiry into herself. In fact, most of the information she had passed along had more to do with her interactions with Vandrad rather than herself as a person.

Clearly there was going to be no end to the flirtations between Mercury and Themesycia that night. Or probably ever. The two were equally as capable of going back and forth, though even Mercury would admit that the older woman was far more skilled and blunt about it than she was. Mercury certainly wasn’t shy by any means, but she typically played a bit more coy and teasing rather than outspoken. This wasn’t a turn off by any means, of course, just meant that the duchess held a bit of the upper hand in their exchanges. Somehow, Mercury got the feeling the older woman preferred it that way.

She admitted that she’d heard of Mercury’s guild, though wasn’t keen on too many details regarding their mission as a group. The Xocili told of her first excursion out with Vandrad, which seemed to touch on battle territory that the Ashen Dread was more than familiar with as she offered Mercury a conjectured thought about the lingering dead. The whole conversation eventually brought her back to the fact that Vandrad had demanded Mercury as a training partner, to which Themesycia inquired as to why Mercury didn’t make her mornings a little easier by simply spending the night with her son beforehand.

Mercury laughed in a deeply amused chuckle. “Despite the connection you so aptly deduced earlier -- ammunition I will be forever grateful to you for by the way, because he certainly had not told me -- our relationship, if you can call it that, isn’t anything along those lines. Vandrad tolerates my existence begrudgingly and with great pains, only because he seems to have this idea in his head that I can make him stronger. I suppose in a way he’s not wrong, but boy does he loathe my methods.”

It was information that the duchess would come to understand momentarily, once they were able to find a suitable place to sit comfortably and Mercury could regale the story to her in more length. There was a slight nagging in the back of her mind over her insistence that her relationship with Vandrad wasn’t what his mother seemed to think it was, her thumb continuing to almost caress the delicate band on her finger, but she easily kicked that singular, disarming moment back in lieu of other honest truths. After all, nothing about her comments were deceitful, nor intended to be so. Mercury was simply delivering the nature of their partnership as she truly saw it, recent oddities notwithstanding.

Either way, the duchess was pleased to know that someone had taken up in her stead of making sure Vandrad was being kept on his toes, commenting about how stiff he was nearly all the time. She was murmuring about repaying Mercury for her efforts, leaning down very much like she was intending on giving the Silver Wolf mage a kiss, and Themesycia may have even gotten one if they hadn’t been interrupted.

On her other side, Mercury turned to see an insanely attractive man with the darkest skin she’d ever seen in her life. Like she had with Themesycia, the mage made no effort to hide her eyes openly taking the man in. Vandrad’s description of his uncle’s looks hadn’t even come close to preparing her for actually meeting him. The two supposed siblings truly looked nothing alike, but they were both so exotically beautiful that it was almost painful to behold, not that Mercury intended on looking away from either of them any time soon.

The duchess sounded less than pleased by the intrusion, for a number of reasons that Mercury could easily deduce on her own, but introduced the Fioren nonetheless. Simon commented on wishing he were Vandrad, if only to hold the pleasure of calling her a friend. Whoo boy, he was charming. Mercury smirked at him. “Well, you should tell him that. Maybe if enough people besides myself refer to me as his friend, he’ll start believing it. Stockholm syndrome is a powerful tool.” She allowed him her hand, which he gracefully kissed the back of much like Mercury had done with Themesycia upon meeting her. Much like the duchess’ touches, the gesture sent a slight shiver up her limb.

“Ah, yes,” Mercury teased flirtatiously as Simon introduced himself. “The other family member I was forewarned about. Your nephew seems to think I’m liable to go missing somewhere between the two of you if he doesn’t keep track of me. Not that I blame him, of course.”

Themesycia, obviously annoyed at her brother’s interference, attempted to shoo the dark man away, a gesture which Simon seamlessly ignored and instead took as an invitation to join them. Mercury had a feeling that the rest of her night was going to consist of the two siblings fighting over her. The notion was amusing, and flattering, particularly as the man wasted exactly zero time in slipping his own hand around Mercury’s waist, resulting in the Silver Wolf mage being more or less held on either side by the two. She could practically feel Vandrad burning with irritation over the sight, whether or not he was actually in a place to view it at the time.

For her part, Mercury only chuckled, not honestly knowing what to do with all the attention, even if she was genuinely flattered by it all. “Well, you are just in time, then. I was preparing myself to illuminate your resplendent sister with the story of how I took your nephew’s virginity. It’s a story I imagine I will only be able to get away with telling so long as he is distracted… so better to have a full audience, yes?” Her emerald eyes danced with mischief. Vandrad was probably going to try to kill her again before the night was through, but it would be absolutely worth it.

Turning back to Themesycia, Mercury raised her free hand and gently traced the back of her fingers down her arm. “You mentioned finding a place to sit, my lady?” she purred. While Mercury was certainly as entranced with Simon as both Vandrad and his mother probably expected him to be -- after all, she could only assume that the duchess was annoyed by her brother’s arrival if she saw him as a threat to her game -- the Silver Wolf mage had no intentions of letting the older woman think that she was simply going to be forgotten just because there was an extra mouth around to exchange banter and wit with.

Once Simon had his drink in hand, the three of them made their way to a free couch that was far enough back from the hustle and bustle of the main dance floor that they wouldn’t have to be too overly loud to hear one another nor feel that their privacy was being invaded, but still at an angle that they could easily see most everything in the room. Mercury took a seat wherever she was invited to, which presumably was going to wind up continuing to be between the two of them. The slit in the dress fell down far enough on her right side that the only thing keeping them from getting the full view of her ass cheek was its depression into the material of the sofa. Mercury seemed undaunted by this, easily crossing the free limb over her other knee and essentially leaving the entire limb out on display. She settled herself just so onto the couch, ensuring that her hip was brushing up against that of Simon’s. Meanwhile, her freehand boldly took the chance to rest its palm lightly on Themesycia’s knee.

“There, this is much more cozy, don’t you think?” She asked the two of them impishly. “Without further ado, allow me to recount for you…” Mercury paused for dramatic effect, her grin deepening. “...The day that Vandrad tried to murder me.”

She took a casual sip from her glass of rum, letting the comment sink in. While there was certainly enough amusement in Mercury’s tone to suggest that this was not an event she held a grudge over, they would know right from the start that she wasn’t exaggerating the claim. Turning to Themesycia with a ponderous expression, she told the woman, “You know, before I get started it occurs to me that you might know a portion of this story already. I didn’t understand until after all was said and done that you are apparently acquainted with a young boy by the name of Morli, who was recently kidnapped while traveling to visit family in Desierto?”

Presuming that she was aware of both the boy and the kidnapping, Mercury would nod. “Hopefully by now you know the boy was returned to his family, but to confirm what you’re probably already assuming, yes that was a job that Vandrad and I took on. Or well, that I took on and enlisted Vandrad to help me, so to speak. Forgive me in advance for this story. I admit that I did not treat your poor son very well that day.”

Her eyes twinkled with mirth and mischief as she went on. “I won’t bore you with all the minutiae, but suffice to say that the only way I was going to get any assistance in completing the job was to sneak someone in as a slave. Vandrad was my obvious choice because I knew he could handle the job itself, but I knew he wouldn’t be keen on pretending to be a slave, and I am not convince on his acting abilities. So I may have… actually kidnapped him. Knocked him out while he was training, stripped him down to a loin cloth, chained him up and dragged him through the desert behind a camel for the better part of a day.”

“Needless to say, he was furious when he came to. He was also suspicious because I had only just recently learned his real identity.” She gestured broadly to the room with her rum filled hand. “But I never confirmed that I overheard the truth of his origins, and he was happy to hope that I was unaware. He was suspicious, of course. But when it came time to ‘sell’ him to the slavers, I gave him a false name and peddled him off as a commoner.” Mercury chuckled to herself there, still more than pleased with the image of him twitching with anger beneath the shackles and muzzle.

“He’s so delightful when he’s upset. Anyway, he managed to figure out that I wasn’t actually trying to sell him, and that I was on a job and he was a part of it. His part was to act as a distraction and destroy the entire arena while I located young Morli and got him out safely. I didn’t know at the time that he knew Morli, though it’s possible that’s the only reason I’m actually alive to tell this story. Vandrad destroyed the place while I got Morli back, and then I found a nice secluded place out in the middle of the desert to wait for him. He was so utterly ripshit with me for all the abuse I’d given him that he blacked out from the anger and didn’t come to until the next morning where he was utterly horrified to find me both alive and naked next to him.”

Oh, how she grinned, her features ripe with smugness over the story. “It took him days to remember. Actually, I didn’t even get confirmation until tonight that he does recall the full event now. But that is the broader story of how his attempt to take my life went wildly awry, and now I apparently get to hold being his first bed partner over his head for the rest of his life. But boy, let me tell you, he was naughty...” She let the implication hang there, gently teasing them with juice over Vandrad not only losing his virginity in such a scandalous way but also being downright ravenous about it. Details were great, but baiting with subtle implications was so much more satisfying...

The siblings listened to her tale with great interest, interjecting only occasionally to contribute their own thoughts. All the while they also found little ways to pamper her with their hands. Simon snugged himself right up against her bare leg, his arm around the back of her head and gently rubbing her neck while he other hand trailed along her thigh. On the flip side, Themesycia was giving similar caresses along Mercury’s arm that was rested on the duchess’ leg. It was threatening territory and Mercury knew she was asking for trouble, but that just made it all the more exhilarating.

By the time she finished her story, both Themesycia and Simon were quite elated over the information, having very much enjoyed the sordid details of Vandrad’s abuse. The duchess was especially pleased to hear that her son had really let loose during the session, while her brother quickly corrected her, reminding the woman of the deep seeded anger that was near constantly brewing inside his nephew and waiting for a chance to release itself. He even went so far to insinuate that Vandrad’s rough handling of her was something that Mercury herself seemed more than satisfied with, and for her part Mercury merely gave the man a small, impish, and overly smug smirk, with eyes as green as his own that danced with a seductive passion which definitely betrayed his assessment was right on the money.

He was in the process of suggesting that the Silver Wolf mage regale them with some of the more salacious details of exactly how Vandrad had made use of her when they were approached and interrupted by two young women, one of whom referred to Simon as “dad”. It seemed the man had children which was no surprise. They were around Mercury’s own age, both with dark hair and similar features of the face that betrayed their blood relation. Outside of that, they couldn’t have been more different. One was donned in a feminine pink gown and wore a gentle grace about her. She was unmistakably blind. The other dressed in darker fashions and carried herself with a more standoffish attitude, though she wasn’t necessarily unfriendly.

Simon introduced her to his daughters, named Cicilia and Ophelia respectively. Ophilia’s honest shock over the notion that Vandrad had friends caused Mercury to choke slightly on her rum mid sip. She pulled the glass away from her face and swallowed the liquid so she could laugh at the comment. “He’ll deny it to his dying breath,” she said, following up Simon’s comment, “But yes, at least one that I can confirm. Though it still remains to be seen whether that will last the night, especially after the rather mortifying story I just finished telling of him.”

She grinned at the darker girl, the open face of mischief, before gracefully prying herself out of the hold of Simon and Themesycia to greet the two women. “The pleasure is mine, ladies, I assure you,” Mercury told them as Cecilia curtsied, her tone for once having a simple and genuine pleasantness to it rather than any flirtation or deviousness. After all, she could hardly try to seduce Vandrad’s entire family -- his mother and uncle were going to be more than enough of a handful. She offered both women a friendly handshake, seemingly undaunted by Ophilia’s more crass mannerisms, and also making sure to verbally communicate with Cecilia if it was alright to exchange a handshake before simply taking the girl’s hand without her expecting it or consenting to the touch.

“Please, join us,” she invited them. “I never planned on the opportunity to meet any of his family, and I would love to get to know as many of you as possible, particularly if you have any delicious and embarrassing stories I can hold over his head later. Here, let me get another sofa pulled up for you.” Thankfully, there was plenty of open seating around as most people were up dancing and mingling, just not all of it was facing the same direction. Tapping into the ornate metal of a couple of the other nearby couches, she bent her magic ever so slightly and turned them around with a casual flick of her wrist, using some of it to make sure she lifted them slightly off the ground first so the feet wouldn’t scratch and grate across the surface of the floor.

She turned around a couple of the items until there was a small circle of sorts of a couple different sized seating arrangements, with more than enough space for a few others to join them later as Mercury had a feeling would be the case down the line. Rather than sit herself back between the duchess and her brother, the Silver Wolf mage elected to settle herself onto a single seated armchair so that she could be equally engaging with all the present family members. And perhaps to also drive Simon and Themesycia a little more wild with her impressive ability to play hard to get.

“This is actually wonderful timing,” she told them, making herself comfortable. “Your father and aunt have seen so busy drawing stories about myself and Vandrad out of me, that I haven’t really gotten the chance to return the courtesy of pleasantries. It’s been so shocking and refreshing to me to come here and find his family to be so charming and social in comparison to his constant brooding.”

Once everyone was seated and comfortable, the real fun began. Mercury was quite literally at the edge of her seat, her body leaning forward as a sign of being fully engaged in the conversation, her expression more than eager to hear the delicious things she was surely about to hear. She could only imagine the number of elicit stories these delightful people had to pass along, not even just about Vandrad himself. There were few things more fun than having dirt on people, so the Silver Wolf mage was more than a little eager to soak up all the juicy gossip they had to offer her, even about people she didn’t know.

Cecilia opened by attempting to defend Vandrad a bit, but her sister was having none of it, jumped right in to state that her cousin had a gigantic stick up his ass that only sex was probably capable of curing. Knowing she wouldn’t have to say anything at all, Mercury only smirked knowingly into her glass as Themesycia herself informed the ladies that Mercury had already seen to that particular issue. Both of the younger girls threw their gazes on her, the mischievous grin on her face more than enough confirmation of the statement’s truth.

Immediately Ophelia began drilling the older adults present to inquire if Vandrad had changed at all. Such as, being able to be anything but a grump. Mercury would have interjected herself to submit her own observation of the little ways that Vandrad had slowly started showcasing some of her own demeanors, much to his own horror, but the conversation quickly shifted along to Simon’s accusation at Themesycia for forcing her son to return home for this event.

It was an exchange between family members that Mercury was more than happy to sit back and silently observe, noting all their nuances and filing the provided information away to mull over later. As much as she did enjoy a spotlight, this was much more to her liking. Listening was such a fruitful activity, and the du Wolffs had a lot to say.

And then, Ophelia provided a tidbit of information that did honestly surprise Mercury, to the point where her trademark smirk actually seemed to soften a bit, her lavender brows furrowing in thought. Vandrad was an orphan? “No, I had no idea,” she told the woman honestly. Cecilia and Simon filled in the details for her, about how trade and peace agreement attempts between Fiore and Bellum had been stalled close to forty years ago, and shortly after returning home Themesycia had found Vandrad as an infant, abandoned in a basket with no explanation. The young duchess had opted to take him in as her own.

There was something… odd about the way the story was told, however. At least on Simon’s part. Mercury was fairly exceptional at reading people, or so she liked to think. Given the nature of the event and her great interest in paying attention to Vandrad’s family, she hardly missed the subtle look that Simon had given his sister. Was he lying about something? The sensors for her internal HUD switched on immediately and she started secretly monitoring the man’s body head and blood pressure. Either she had missed the window of the lie, or he really was telling the truth, however. None of her numbers indicated a trace of deceit, and Mercury trusted her monitors to be precise. Of course it was always possible that he was simply an exceptional liar, but there was little Mercury could do to prove that.

The knowledge struck a surprising chord in her, however. She was surprisingly somber for a moment or two in thought, her gaze on the rest of the family merely an idle one as she unwittingly thumbed once more at the ring on her left hand. Mercury never talked about herself to anyone. Or at least, nothing more than surface details. There wasn’t a single person on Earthland that knew her history or origins, though not for lack of asking. She was quite good at brushing such inquiries off in an effort to remain as unassuming as possible. Her mission required it.

She wouldn’t get much time to ponder the convenient similarity of their lives, however, as the subject of their conversation approached with his clingy bride in hand. Mercury’s expression immediately switched back to its normal coolness, her eyes dancing with a mischief that Vandrad, at least, would more than recognize once he finally cast his gaze on her. He looked absolutely miserable, as though he was on a week straight with no sleep and no rest in sight, and no reprieve from the destitute battle he’d been waging. The corner of her lips lifted in the barest of smirks as their eyes met, covering the look with a well timed sip from her tumbler.

He started begrudgingly introducing the woman to the present family members, but before he could even begin she was already cutting him off to correct him on using her proper title, even going so far as to insist he place his own last name upon her, snuggling up to him and tweaking his nose in the process. It took everything Mercury had to keep from busting up out loud over the ridiculousness of the princess’ behavior, especially with Ophelia openly commenting about how presumptuous it was for Sabine to already be assuming their surname. The normally collected Mercury that could stare in the face of most situations without batting an eyelash or revealing her inner thoughts had to casually lift a hand up to her face as though she had a mild itch just so she had an excuse to cover her amusement long enough to keep it from betraying her.

Vandrad made quick and precise work of the introductions, listing off names so quickly that surely Sabine barely had time to apply the identities to their owners before he was on to the next one. Not that Mercury imagined the woman was all too interested in remembering names, anyway. When he got to the Silver Wolf mage, she was more than curious to see exactly how he was going to introduce her as clearly she wasn’t a member of the family. Was this the time that he would finally have to own up to calling her a friend through gritted teeth and barely concealed irritation?

The world would never know, for Sabine instantly cut the prince off and filled in the blanks for herself, touching upon how sweet it was that they treated their servants so nicely. Oh, how Mercury fixed her gaze on the woman, who had unknowingly thrown herself on what was arguably the Silver Wolf’s biggest pet peeve. While her outside expression hardly changed, there was a very sharp look in her eyes, one that Vandrad himself had only seen for the first time recently. It was the collected, unhinged promise of danger from a predator that had just caught a whiff of her prey, ripe and ready for the killing.

In that moment, there was no one else in the room besides her and this sorry excuse for human existence. The rest of the family blinked in surprise and shock as the woman went on to inform Mercury that her ‘services’ would no longer be needed once the two nobles were married. The lavender haired mage didn’t miss a beat as she smiled sweetly and coolly replied. “I understand, mistress. It will be a shame to have to change duties after serving him for so long, but I’ll make certain that my lord makes thorough use of me before then.”

She took another meticulous sip of her glass then, her unwavering gaze not leaving Sabine’s even after she’d seemed to have forgotten about Mercury’s existence. Vandrad attempted to pull himself away from the woman now that his duty of introducing her to everyone had been concluded, but she was having none of it, insisting that they really should spend some time with his family while they had the chance, since supposedly they’d be moving to Midi after the wedding.

If the area had been tense before, it was nothing in comparison to Themesycia’s reaction at the news. The duchess inquired about the claim, stating that nothing had been mentioned in the agreement she’d discussed with Sabine’s father. The reply was simply that the decision had been implied, and the princess seemed to think by her mannerisms that “Themmy” would have to be happy with that answer. The entire family was flabbergasted by the audacity of it all, even as Sabine declared that she needed a drink, giving Vandrad a kiss on the cheek before prancing off to find one of her servants, a chore that was less work than it would have been to simply go to the bar herself.

And while the rest of the family was surely looking to Themesycia to judge just how much she was going to blow up over the blatant disrespect, Mercury’s head instead turned to watch the princess as she left, her narrowed eyes fixated on the princess’ back like there was a wide open target painted on it. Her jaw shifted ever so slightly, her tongue gently caressing the back of her own teeth as she began calculating all the little ways she was going to absolutely destroy the woman and everything she believed in.

For once, Mercury hadn’t even really been paying attention to the conversation, blinking a bit to herself as she realized she’d allowed herself to be distracted. When she tuned back in just in time to here Themesycia insisting that Vandrad do something that he very much did not seem to want to do, something that involved showcasing his “talents” so to speak. Mercury’s curiosity piqued as he threw up one last defense, vaguely stating that something wasn’t present that he would need, which his mother quickly brushed aside as though it were of little concern.

Her fingers trailed across Mercury’s shoulders as she passed behind the Silver Wolf mage, causing Mercury to grin up at her with delight, clearly enjoying the touch. As the duchess moved away to speak with the musicians, the slayer turned to look at Vandrad with a mischievous and curious grin, as though silently asking him what sort of fun treat she was in store for that he was clearly so unhappy about. She wouldn’t have to wait long for an answer as Themesycia called off the current music and gathered everyone’s attentions, announcing that Vandrad was going to express his gratitude to everyone gathered for his event by playing some music.

“Oh, yes,” Mercury said in absolute elation, greatly looking forward to watching the surly man put on a begrudging show -- though her voice was only loud enough that Vandrad, his uncle, and his two counsins were the only one that would hear it and see just how much she was looking forward to this particular display of discomfort her friend was about to put on. She was not going to miss this, and so when the prince moved to make his way over to the orchestral section, Mercury stood and joined the people gathering around, making sure to find a spot where she could watch from a reasonable distance with a crystal clear view of him.

And all the while that he got himself prepared to start, she was fighting the urge to cackle mercilessly to herself.  The prince started playing an upbeat song, his fingers moving across the keys with impressive accuracy and grace, until the duchess stopped him and demanded something more moving. Something with a bit of singing and lyrics involved, as a microphone appeared before him. “This is it,” she murmured quietly to Ophelia and Cecilia, who were standing closest to her. “This is the best day of my life, and I think I’m officially in love with your aunt.”

Vandrad was furious, and at this point Mercury wasn’t doing much of anything to hide how delighted she was by everything that was happening. For one brief, satisfying moment, the prince’s gaze fell on her own and she gave him probably the most shit eating grin he’d ever seen on her, an expression that went unnoticed by most of the others present as she was somewhat off to the side from the rest of the crowd and no one else was really looking at her. She could only imagine the slew of curses firing off in his brain, and each one was more music to her than what he was about to perform.

Or, so she assumed.

He finally seemed to settle on something and started playing a much softer song that was more akin to a ballad than anything else. Mercury sighed happily to herself, holding what was left of her glass of rum to her chest as though it were a comforting pillow to cling to on a beautifully rainy day. Although she had to admit, she was impressed that he could actually sing so well. He had a soft, moving baritone range in which he was actually quite strong. It was yet another thing that didn’t really appear to suit him, a talent that she never would have assumed of him given that this sort of thing was so completely opposite of what he enjoyed doing.

But as she continued to listen to the words of the lyrics, her expression changed. The deeply satisfied smile ebbed away into something once again akin to confusion and suspicion at the first mention in the song of green eyes. Surely that was a coincidence. His attention was completely focused on the instrument and his performance, giving her plenty of time to observe him as he played and doing her best to kick back the unfamiliar sensation that had once again reared its head much like it had back in Themesycia’s dressing room.

The whole performance was so moving that it had taken the audience’s breath away, leaving a few seconds of silence pause before everyone present burst into applause. For her own part, Mercury actually refrained from joining in with them right away, her brain too deeply tucked in upon itself to join everyone else, but after a moment she did lift her free hand and gently applauded as best she could around the glass in her hand.

Of course the entire moment was ruined by Sabine, who threw herself out of the crowd to fawn over the prince and talk about how sweet it was that he had written a song about her, despite the fact that her eyes weren’t even green. And when Themesycia was bold enough to point such facts out loud, the princess practically changed her entire demeanor down to a more threatening tone as she politely insisted that the color of the eyes wasn’t the point.

Mercury was once again deep in thought, despite the fact that her brain felt completely empty in that moment as it tried to process whatever the hell had just happened. Or if anything had happened. Her scientific mind was quite annoyed with the fact that there was really no evidence of an occurrence worth note despite the fact that her gut was telling her otherwise. She barely paid attention once again as the duchess spoke up about another in attendance at the party who would come up and put on a performance of their own.

It was the “lovely shirt” that caught her attention, the color suddenly draining a bit from her face as she realized where this was going. “Fuck,” she whispered to herself, much like Vandrad had once they’d arrived back in the ballroom and set eyes on Sabine for the first time. She recovered by the time Themesycia actually got around to saying her name, but probably not before Vandrad’s eyes would have found her.

And suddenly everyone’s eyes were on her again, her calculated and even smirk back in place, though it was slightly more apprehensive than before. Or at least, it would be to those who could see through such things. It was enough of a surprise that the duchess had managed to knock Mercury slightly off her guard, and impressive feat that she really couldn’t even be mad at her for. But given that Mercury hadn’t exactly been ready for the attention this time around, it was slightly more daunting to actually have it and she felt ill prepared to navigate the situation with her usual ease.

“You don’t even know if I can sing,” she informed the duchess playfully, giving her a look of wicked mischief as her eyes met the other woman’s. Mercury could sing of course. Not that she did it often, but it was something she knew she was capable of doing thanks to the synthetic portions of her biology that gave her almost perfect engineered control of her voice in that capacity.

Even for Mercury, it seemed that peer pressure could be a hell of a tool. For the briefest of moments she held her ground as though she intended on refusing, but did ultimately relent, stepping slowly through the crowd and finding a place to set her glass before moving over toward the piano where Vandrad still sat. Her mind was scrambling for a song. She’d sung on occasion in private, but never performed before. And even in her personal time, she’d rarely done it to the extent of necessarily being comfortable with her memory of the words to most of the songs that she generally knew.

She realized she was standing there a bit awkwardly, and covered it up with an easy, apologetic smile to both Themesycia and the crowd. “You’ll have to forgive me. I know very few songs, and I’ve never sung before an audience. I also don’t know how to play piano, or any other instruments.” A confession she delivered coolly, but from how close she was now standing to Vandrad and his mother they both could probably see that she was quite clearly panicking a bit. Knowing that she was going to need some help, she forced herself to meet Vandrad’s gaze and gently ask, “I don’t suppose sight reading is among your many hidden talents..?”

Presuming he confirmed that he would be capable of playing the notes for a song he’d never practiced before, Mercury hesitated only a brief moment more before walking over and taking a seat next to him at the end of the piano bench. With the wave of her hand she created an electronic tablet in the space where sheets of music usually rested, its screen providing him with the notes, tempo, and all other information he would need for the instrumental portion for the song, though it was lacking the lyrics. Her hand trembled only slightly as she slid the microphone over in front of herself before she finally nodded to him that she was ready, without fully turning her face to look at him.

♫ No time for rest
No pillow for my head
Nowhere to run from this
No way to forget
Around the shadows creep
Like friends, they cover me
Just wanna lay me down and finally
Try to get some sleep

We carry on through the storm
Tired soldiers in this war
Remember what we're fighting for

Meet me on the battlefield
Even on the darkest night
I will be your sword and shield,
your camouflage
And you will be mine
Echos of the shots ring out
We may be the first to fall
Everything can stay the same
or we could change it all
Meet me on the battlefield ♫

She couldn’t help her eyes from flicking to him briefly during the small instrumental. It was a dramatic, suspenseful song, one that she sang with more than a little hesitance. But as the verse past and the chorus came she seemed to find a little bit of her strength, drawing from a place of emotion that Mercury rarely, if ever, touched.

He could probably feel how tense she was, and while it was obvious that she had zero background in performance given how she did little to engage the audience while she sat and sung, there was no mistaking for those who paid attention that the song was a bit personal to her. Still, as she continued she found more strength as she closed her eyes and did her best to simply focus on doing the song justice and letting its words reverberate with her as it always had every time she listened to it.

♫ We're standing face-to-face
With our own human race
We commit the sins again
and our sons and daughters pay
Our tainted history,
is playing on repeat
But we could change it if
we stand up strong and take the lead

When I was younger, I was named
A generation unafraid
For heirs to come, be brave

And meet me on the battlefield
Even on the darkest night
I will be your sword and shield,
your camouflage
And you will be mine
Echos of the shots ring out
We may be the first to fall
Everything can stay the same
or we could change it all
Meet me on the battlefield

We carry on through the storm
Tired soldiers in this war
Remember what we're fighting for

Meet me on the battlefield
Even on the darkest night
I will be your sword and shield,
your camouflage
And you will be mine
Echos of the shots ring out
We may be the first to fall
Everything could stay the same
or we could change it all
Meet me on the battlefield
Meet me on the battlefield. ♫

By the end of it, similarly to the prince, she had been rather deeply swept up in her own song to the point where it was rather passionate by the end despite how little she moved or engaged herself along to the rhythm. The story was in her face. Even with her eyes mostly closed through the whole performance, there was no mistaking the emotions that played along her expressions as she delivered the intense, sorrowful song. And when it finally over, she gently opened her eyes and forced herself to glance at the crowds to see how they had received it, then to the duchess, and finally -- with much forced effort -- to Vandrad, if only quickly and out of the corner of her gaze.

If Mercury had shown pleasure in picking on and irritating Vandrad through the night, she was absolutely basking under Sabine’s furious glare. The two women stared at one another as the rest of the immediate area gasped in shock. Or at least, everyone but Vandrad. He knew Mercury well enough by now to not be surprised by her quick, calm, and severing wit. Likewise, he’d gotten used to her enough to be able to banter back against and with her. As such, he steered right into the skid, taking what was probably the first opportunity he’d had to jab at the infuriating woman all night and running with it, confirming that he would indeed make very good use of Mercury during the time they supposedly had left.

But Sabine hadn’t heard it. No, she was as much focused on Mercury as the Silver Wolf mage was on her, but Mercury’s will was stronger and eventually it was the princess that turned away with a dramatic flourish to go get her drink. Now it was a party, one that she was greatly looking forward to. It wasn’t the last she was going to hear out of Sabine. Mercury had left the door wide open and she knew the woman would throw herself through it thoughtlessly to try and get retaliation for the comment, which was exactly what Mercury wanted. The bait had been set. Now all she had to do was wait.

Thankfully, that wait wouldn’t be too terribly long. The next few minutes consisted of a complete whiplash of emotions, her high from her little verbal joust with Sabine and finding exquisite delight in Vandrad’s performance discomfort thoroughly squashed by the sinking reality of Mercury herself being put on stage when she wasn’t expecting it. Still, as with most things she quickly recovered from being momentarily off her guard, seemingly entertained by the surprise invitation. To her credit, Themesycia actually did help a bit with easing her enough that she was able to actually follow through with the impromptu performance, first by teasing her back and flirting with her -- which helped Mercury solidify herself into her usual demeanor -- and then by offering a silent squeeze of encouragement as she passed the woman on the way to the piano.

Thankfully, Vandrad could provide the music for her. In truth, Mercury probably could have conjured up a set of speakers that would have just as easily played the melody for her, and with several instruments, but that felt… cheap. That, and she did not like displaying too much of her magic, particularly when there were so many unknown faces with their eyes intent on watching her. So she’d simply done enough to give him the lyrics, a small gesture that wasn’t too telling and could easily be interpreted as any number of magicks.

The tension from her was pretty thick when everything started, but by the end of it there had been nothing but passion, and perhaps even a modicum of sorrow. Vandrad played the final notes even as her voice faded out, leaving the room in a deafening silence that made even the undauntable Mercury gulp just the littlest bit. Was this a good reaction? A bad one? She simply didn’t know. People had paused for a bit after Vandrad’s song too, but this was a longer wait. Or perhaps it just felt that way now that she was the one in the hot seat. And at this point she really didn’t even care whether or not they loved or hated it, she just wanted something to go off of so the moment could end.

It was Themesycia who began the applause, drawing Mercury’s attention to her to see a knowing look in the woman’s eyes. She had understood the weight of the song, and it had seemingly allowed the two of them to bond even more thoroughly than all their prior wit and banter and flirtations had. The duchess seemed proud, and Mercury understood that she was not clapping out of pity but of a true appreciation for the music, which stirred another odd emotion within the Silver Wolf mage.

Both she and Vandrad seemed intent on not looking at one another. Neither of them had ever shown a whole lot of emotion around the other outside of endless wit, and rage, and the occasional serious moment. But nothing like this, and certainly not from Mercury. Between the two of them, she was the one typically brushing most somber moments under the rug and finding ways to keep things light and airy, never going into much detail about herself or her life. But for all the lack of personal details, the lyrics of the song had still given a lot of answers to the man who often proved to be just as observant as she was, but less outspoken about it. It was a vulnerable position to be in, the first time in a very long time that Mercury had felt that way.

But as she was perhaps on the cusp of discovering something about herself, the train of thought in her own mind was interrupted by Sabine finally reaching out to snatch the bait that Mercury had left for her. Her grating voice piped up about how much of a mood killer the song had been, once more looking to take the spotlight for herself by storming up as if to steal the microphone. And if the bitch had approached the matter in any other way, Mercury probably would have let her have her time to make a fool of herself. It wasn’t like she cared about the woman’s opinion. Harlot was an insult that had been flung at her many times, and really it was more a compliment to her than anything else.

But Sabine had disrespected a song that meant more to her than anyone knew, and that was not going to end well for her. Mercury turned slowly on the bench, a terrifyingly composed expression on her face that told every single person watching that Mercury was not only about to break Sabine mind, body, and spirit, but that she was going to get a deep pleasure out of doing so. Her emerald eyes were locked on the dark haired woman with a glittering inferno, her lips tugged into a borderline sadistic little smirk that only Vandrad had seen before, back during their struggle to survive the open waters to Ca-Elum. Mercury was poised and ready, cool and collected to spring her trap. She just needed Sabine to come a little bit closer…

Her dangerous train of thought utterly derailed by a white and blue blur moving across her vision. She’d been so focused on Sabine that Mercury hadn’t even noticed Vandrad standing from the bench, moving to intercept the insufferable princess before Mercury could even get a chance at her. The expression wiped right off her face and was replaced with open, unabashed shock as Vandrad snatched Sabine’s hand and pried it off the microphone before demanding that the woman keep her vile opinion of Mercury to herself. He even swore at her and insulted her in the same breath.

Everything that followed happened so fast and was charged with such energy that it was almost difficult to keep up with. Mercury managed to at least come down from her confusion over how quickly her own revenge had been taken out of her hands, enough to watch with silent attention as Sabine tried to throw her political weight around, only to have Vandrad once again cut her off from insulting Mercury. The woman shrieked in pain as he squeezed her wrist, and it was that delightful sound of agony that brought Mercury back down to earth.

She eased back onto the bench, this time arranging herself a bit more comfortably as though this had been a show put on for her personal amusement, lounging gracefully against the end of the piano and fixing the flailing Sabine once more with a satisfied, near murderous smirk. Vandrad was about to tear this woman in two, and not in the fun way. Or well, not a way that would be fun for Sabine. Mercury was fully ready to watch it happen, but just as it seemed like the prince’s anger was about to bubble into fruition his mother stepped in and gently took control of the situation with little more than a touch on his arm to stay his anger.

Mother and son exchanged a look that Mercury couldn’t fully see from where she sat behind them, but it was enough that Vandrad seemed to think it was best to let go and let the older woman take over. And for good reason, too. Sabine began to whine and insult Vandrad only for Themesycia to coolly cut her off. Then the duchess went into a collected tirade of clap back that Mercury honestly got quite turned on by it. She managed to listen with intent silence up until Themesycia commented about Midians marrying barn animals.

The rest of the room may have remained painfully and tensely silent, but Mercury sputtered her open laughter. It wasn’t so boisterous as to interrupt the moment, but everyone would be able to see it, as well as hear her continue to chortle quietly from her seat. Sabine was staring at the older woman in horror, stunned to silence from a verbal thrashing that probably no one had the guts to give her before. It all ended with Themesycia giving Sabine leave to exit the gala, stating that she was allowed to stay at the palace for the night but only for so long as it took for her to be able to travel safely, stating that she was to leave as soon as feasible in the morning.

It took a good long while for Mercury to stop giggling to herself. By the time the duchess finished easing the tension in the room with a bit of humor, an invitation to return to dance, and one more round of applause for Vandrad and Mercury’s performances, the Silver Wolf mage was practically wiping tears of deep amusement from her eyes. Any awkwardness or uncertainties she had been feeling before had been wiped completely from her mind and forgotten, at least for the moment, leaving her in full humor and quite the cheery mood.

The du Wolffs and Mercury returned to their little circle of seating to share the rest of the evening in relative harmony and entertainment, from which Mercury got much more dirt on Vandrad. It was such an enjoyable moment for her that she didn’t think about Sabine once for the rest of the night, content with her current company and to let the past issue go rather than brood over it.

But of course, all good things came to an end and eventually it was time for the guests to start leaving and for the gala to officially wrap itself up. An obvious question was posed by Ophelia as to where Mercury would be staying that night seeing as how all their guest rooms had already been filled before the woman’s unexpected arrival. She even went so far as to delightfully suggest that they put her in the same room as Sabine. Mercury’s gaze lit with hope and suspense as she turned to Themesycia. “Oh please, please do,” she practically begged, a grin as wicked as Ophelia’s spreading across her face. “She and I can have a nice little chat. I can guarantee she’ll be gone before you’re even up. Just don’t ask me how.”

But of course, the duchess led with how it was clearly her duty to make sure Mercury was accommodated by allowing her to stay in her own room with her. Mercury returned the older woman’s gaze with a look that very much said she might be willing to acquiesce to that, and she was about to state as much before Simon chirped in, casually stating an offer to let Mercury use his room. It was an offer that appeared gentlemanly on the surface, but no one was buying it. Which frankly, was half the fun. She rewarded the man with another knowing smirk just for him.

And truthfully, Mercury really hadn’t thought this far ahead. Sleeping arrangements hadn’t been on her mind at any point of the night because frankly, she hadn’t expected to be allowed to stay. She figured she was going to wind up at a hotel outside the palace, but clearly that was not to be the case. “So many kind and generous offers,” she purred, clearly both humbled and pleased by the gestures. And frankly, Mercury had no idea what the best -- or safest -- option was. Hell, she wasn’t even sure she wanted a safe option.

Apparently her choice was being made for her, however, as Vandrad spoke up quite clearly to state that the only room Mercury was going to be allowed to sleep in was his. Everyone was taken back by the declaration, including Mercury herself who “Oooh’d” playfully along with the rest of the du Wolffs. Ophelia teased the Silver Wolf mage over how demanding her cousin was being over the matter, and for her part Mercury had now fixed her flirty, playful gaze on her partner. “Very demanding,” she commented, as though the mannerism was doing it quite well for her. “Reminds me a bit of how he was back in Desierto. Mommy likes.”

She flashed him a grin, waggling her eyebrows at him a bit and making a show of it with the rest of the family. In his usual manner the prince brushed aside their teasing comments, saying how it was the only option that made sense to ensure that neither his mother nor his uncle were able to cash in on any of the courting they’d been doing with Mercury that night, as well as depriving Mercury of the opportunity to let either of said relatives achieve their goals to bed her. Mercury sighed in dramatic resignation. “What can I say? The man knows me,” she said with a simple shrug, making no effort to deny the accusation that she would very much let herself be taken advantage of by either of them.

That seemed to be the end of the matter, with Simon voicing similar thoughts before waving his farewells and leaving with both daughters. Or at least, if it was a farewell it was an odd one, followed by a wink to herself. Mercury didn’t think too much of it, assuming he had meant something along the lines of seeing them all in the morning, so she did little more than return the wink and blow the man a kiss. Themesycia exited in much the same manner, until it was just Mercury and Vandrad apparently on their way back to the prince’s rooms.

“Well, this is exciting,” she told him in her teasing, flirtatious tone, filling the silence as they walked. “When I showed up tonight I didn’t expect to get whisked away into princy-poo Vandaddy’s own personal bed chambers. And here I thought it was only the rest of your family that wanted to spoil me tonight. Sorry, despoil me.”

Mercury grinned wide, pleased as punch with her own humor as she typically was. He remained quiet, however, without even a roll of his eyes or a comment of any kind. For a second she thought he was just tired, but a closer look told her that there was actually something on his mind. The slayer eyed him openly, waiting for him to open up about whatever the hell he was clearly working up the courage to say until he finally sighed and stopped them in the hallway before they could even make it to his room.

It was there that he confessed there was an after party, one that he didn’t look at all thrilled to attend. However, it seemed the duchess had insisted he bring Mercury, and if tonight was any evidence Vandrad was a dutiful son, if a grumbly one. He had also been instructed not to warn her of the nature of the party, which was one that Vandrad was clearly uncomfortable with. “Oooh,” she said with interest, turning to face him fully with an intrigued look. “I do like a good mystery, particularly one that appears to be giving you a severe case of the collywobbles.”

And here she’d thought the night was over, yet it seemed it was only just beginning. He turned and walked away in near dejection, inviting her to follow. And follow she did, now all the more interested in seeing just what kind of surprise was in store for her now...

“I’m nothing if not considerate,” Mercury teased with a grin as he jokingly thanked her for the utterly useless safe word she had fed him at the beginning of the gala.

As they wandered in the direction of their new destination, Mercury listened with interest as Vandrad did his best to prepare her without shirking on his promise to keep the secret. He told her there was another hall of sorts in the depths below the palace that was specifically for more intimate gatherings after the larger galas, where only family and invited guests were allowed. Except, it seemed the invitation for this event was much more exclusive than where they had just come from. The only thing he could really say was that it would be an entirely different experience than the ball, to the point where there were changing stations if she wished to change her outfit.

Frankly, Mercury was so greatly enthralled with anticipation that she couldn’t even come up with anything witty to say. Her eyes said it all, the way they danced with excitement and suspense. They stopped beside a large painting of the estate, which seemed a weird place to halt, but the glance he gave her and the sigh that followed betrayed that there was a secret here. And indeed, he placed his hand up on the painting and it shimmered, disappearing to reveal a pathway down into the belly of his home. “Ominous,” she said, practically grinning from ear to ear. The further down they went, the more tension and discomfort she could feel radiating off the prince.

But likewise, she also felt more power. Wherever they were heading, it was chock full of elements from her slayer magic to the point where she was already feeling the weight of it and they weren’t even there yet. Music began to grow gradually in volume as they got closer, but it was a deep, thudding music with heavy reliance on its beat and tempo. The stairs evened out and they approached a doorway that was guarded by a singular tall and exceptionally muscled man that was clad only in a pair of tight leather pants.

From the way the handsome bouncer -- stripper? -- greeted the prince, it was obvious that Vandrad had not attended one of these after parties in a very long time. Years, perhaps even decades. And apparently, someone had already prepared the man for her own arrival as he turned his approving gaze on her and commented as to whether Mercury was the one Vandrad’s mother had been so captivated with. She grinned wide at her partner’s surly response. “It’s like he’s embarrassed by me or something,” she commented toward Kristoph playfully.

After another brief exchange, he moved out of the way and gestured to let them pass, inviting Mercury to enjoy herself while giving her a wink that she very much enjoyed and just got her all the more looking forward to whatever the hell was behind those doors. As Vandrad pushed them open and they stepped inside, Mercury’s gaze flew wide with unbridled delight. She gasped audibly, and not just from the surprise of how exotic and exciting the environment was to her. With the barrier of doors removed, she was hit with the full brunt of the many laser lights and electronics that had been calling to her since they’d started their trek down the stairwell. The lights in particular sent a hard tingling of power down her body as she could feel energy just soaking into her pores with each second.

She was in absolute awe of the place, and unlike Vandrad her gaze couldn’t decide where it wanted to look first. There was so much to see and take in that she had to turn a fully circle to get even a proper starting grasp on the place. And during that time, she observed not just the scandalous state of dress that nearly everyone was in, but also the unmistakably illicit activities that many of them were already up to without shame or regard to the still rather public setting. Mercury had never imagined anything like this in her life. She was more than familiar with sex, obviously, and no stranger to the concept that sometimes it could be a small group affair. But she’d never had an opportunity to be familiarized with the concept of an orgy or what it entailed.

It was like he’d opened a portal into an entirely different universe, one that she didn’t want to leave. I love this planet, she thought to herself suddenly, only barely managing to keep herself from making the statement out loud where Vandrad would hear it. Really the only thing that was daunting was the fact that her sensitive ears were rattling from just how loud the music was, but that was a small price to pay for the sights and sounds her other senses were feasting upon.

When she finally found her voice, Mercury set a curious gaze on Vandrad that was still highly amused and invigorated by the surprise, but there was also an expression of pensiveness to it. It was like she was studying him in some kind of new light, as though reassessing some of her thoughts on him, a look that was validated when she ultimately spoke up to say, “You know, you tolerate me a lot more than I’ve been giving you credit for.” From everything she knew of Vandrad thus far in their partnership, this was absolutely the last place on any planet that the prince would want to be. It fully explained his entire countenance the whole way down, as well as the way he was already rigid with displeasure from the atmosphere.

And yet, here he was, making the conscious choice to bring her here of his own volition, though Mercury had a feeling that he had still been arm wrestled into it a bit by his mother. But still, she got the distinct impression that at the end of the day Vandrad really hadn’t needed to come to this if he was really dead set on not doing so. Sure, he was adamant on trying to keep Mercury away from his uncle and mother’s grabbing hands, but at the same time he also knew Mercury well enough to know that if she truly didn’t want to take part in something, she wouldn’t. He could have just as easily let someone else escort her there and let her have a good time while he remained in his room or whatever other setting was more to his liking, and not had to expose himself to such a depraved engagement.

A raised dais next to the dance floor sported a long couch upon which sat Themesycia and Simon, who had both exchanged their formal attire for practically no clothing at all. The duchess was practically in a bikini crafted from pure metal, looking like a delicious snack on a number of levels to the slayer. Next to her, Simon was clad in a loose garment that left his exceptionally sculpted chest free for viewing pleasure. This was where Vandrad led her, the siblings smiling at their approach.

The duchess greeted them looking pleased as punch over the little surprise and clearly eager to get some of Mercury’s thoughts. The Xocili grinned, resting a hand on her hip. “And here I was only planning on showing up out of dress code to one party today,” she teased. First she’d been severely underdressed, and now she felt quite the opposite. Though she had a feeling that was going to be rectified sooner rather than later, particularly since Vandrad had already mentioned how there would be places available to put on something more setting appropriate if she desired. Not that her current dress wasn’t appropriate, she supposed -- it showed plenty of skin. But in comparison to everyone else present, some of whom were fully naked, it was almost glaringly modest.

“This is fabulous,” she told the duchess, turning around again to behold the place once more, this time from their new and higher angle upon the staged area. There were so many details, so much going on, that she was certain it would take hours to notice everything, if she ever did. “If you’re trying to convince me to never leave, it’s working. You’re okay with having to actually call me mommy, right?” Mercury turned to Vandrad with a grin. “Cause I’m pretty sure I’m going to marry your mother.”

Presuming that the confirmation of changing stations had been made in regard to her earlier comments about being overdressed, she draped an arm on the prince’s shoulder much like she had back in the Silent Glaciers after their fight with the dopplegangers, fixing him with a devious grin. “So, how far invested are you into giving me the full experience? Do I have to go change by myself and leave you all dolled up, or are you going to continue to entertain my cruel whims and put on something more fun? I can bust out the chains again, if you want to ease into it with something a bit more familiar.”

It was the first detail she’d betrayed regarding the nature of their sordid little tryst in the desert, which Mercury had still kept to herself for most of the night knowing that Themesycia and Simon both wanted to hear the full story. At the time, her interest had been in teasing them. However, she’d now been presented with a golden opportunity to slip in a delicious nugget of information that was both vague and telling all at the same time, and Mercury wasn’t going to pass it up.

No matter whether he indulged her or staunchly refused, she allowed herself to either be led to or pointed toward the direction of the places that she could change. Stepping inside the cylindrical space, the door snapped shut behind her and she was treated to a virtual interface that essentially let her design her own outfit to be magically conjured upon her body. Taking off the gown, she folded it up neatly and tucked it into a slot that would allow her to secure it, as well as her jewelry and the shoes, that allowed her to retrieve them later with a biometrical receipt.

She glanced through her options, of which there was a wide array, before finally setting on a corset based get up in shades of grey and pink. The only bottom to the piece was the underside of the black shirt beneath which snapped into place like a onesie between her legs, leaving the rest of the limbs bare as though she were wearing little more than a bathing suit. A large black belt accentuated her tiny waist, and a few stripes of gold added a bit of pop color to the bust. There were no sleeves on this garment, and the closest thing to a skirt was just a bit of dainty silk ruffles on one hip that didn’t even fall long enough to cover her ass. A woman who greatly enjoyed accessorizing, she also generated a choker around her neck made of a soft cloth that tied up in front like a corset and had a simple, black pendant hanging from it. A plain red garter also crafted itself around one of her thighs, and she sported a strappy pair of pink heels with gold colored studs along the leather bands.

Thinking it would be fun to continue to throw the de Wolff family for a continued loop, she also touched into her genetic ability to grow her hair on command, lengthening it until the tips of the lavender strands were barely brushing the top of her ass. Once the ensemble was complete, she admired herself in the available mirror, taking stock of herself and making sure everything was to her liking. The only thing she’d left on from before was the ring that he’d let her borrow, not wanting something to happen to the item while it was technically in her care. Clearly the only reason.

Once everything was satisfactory, she stepped out and found Vandrad, once more giving him a teasing grin and inviting him the chance to comment on her attire. “What do you think? Still too modest, or will this do?” As opposed to the last time, Mercury was clearly much more comfortable with this garment change as it wasn’t nearly as exquisite and expensive as the gown. There was even a naughty little twinkle in her eyes as though she were interested to see if it had any effect on the prince as well, except maybe this time there would be more blushing and less awkward sincerity involved.